committee vote on chuck hagel could come as early as this week. is he a former nebraska senator. coming off that grilling on capitol hill. tonight, new criticism of his performance from both key republicans and democrats, including the president's former press secretary robert gibbs. disconcerting thing for anybody that watched it he seemed unprepared on the questions that quite frankly he knew was coming. >> but members of the obama administration including current defense secretary leon panetta are defending hagel. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey thinks very highly of hagel and confident about his abilities after speaking to him in private. >> i'm not going to grade his homework. i will say in my conversations with him he was well prepared, articulate, concise. >> you are confident that he can do the job? >> i'm not going to speak about confidence. he could be my boss. >> harris: steve centanni live with the news from d.c. right now steve, his supporters trying to stem the tide against hagel, what are they saying? >> well, leon panetta the current d